10 Reasons Donald Trump Should Never Be America's President

                
I was shopping at a large, discount retailer last week for a dress. I had only 45 minutes, so I quickly grabbed three and found the fitting room. I put the first one on over my head, a pretty, blue dress. It didn’t look great on me, and I started to take it off. But its stiff waist got stuck around my shoulders. I tried to wriggle out of it, but no luck. I started to panic — worried I would have to yell for an employee to help. I took a deep breath, and finally freed myself. I put on my glasses and looked at the label: it was from the Ivanka Trump collection.

The dress is a perfect metaphor. I’m starting to panic that we’re going to be stuck with Ivanka’s father as president. And I’m stuck in the endless feed of stories about Donald, unable to write about much else lately.

The day after the dress incident, a friend sent me an article from The American Spectator called, "Why Donald Trump Should be President" by Don Surber. My friend said she’d like to see me take on the author, point by point. How could I resist? So here goes. The words in bold are my additions to Surber’s ten points.

1. Inspires and motivates others to hate, and speak freely about it.

Surber’s example is a golfer who Trump encouraged to go for the PGA. Great.
But for some Americans,Trump is a motivational mouthpiece for all the prejudicial things they’ve wanted to say, but didn’t dare. He didn’t create racism or even wake it up. But he gave it permission to come out of the closet, to be shouted and applauded, en masse. His voice is that of an authoritarian leader, and the voices he courts are the angry operatic mob, carrying pitchforks and brimming with malice.

2. Displays high integrity and honesty about almost nothing.

Surber says fellow billionaires like T. Boone Pickens and Carl Icahn vouch for Trump. He says in business your word is your bond. So we should take Trump’s promises at face value, meaning he’s a misogynistic racist who knows little about the world. And honest? Are you kidding? Trump lies and exaggerates daily about everything from his businesses, to his view of world events, to past statements he’s made and the people he’s mocked.

3. Solves Problems and analyzes issues in a vacuum.

When you don’t care about facts — and Trump rarely does unless they benefit him — you don’t need them to make assessments or solve problems. Take the Egyptair crash. Within hours he was tweeting that it was a terrorist attack. Maybe so. But it’s dangerous for someone in his position to make such a major assumption without the facts. True leaders know when to speak, and when to wait for evidence to analyze and assess a situation.

4. Drives for results to fill his own pockets.

Of course he’s driven - that’s not in question. But his motivation isn’t altruistic - it’s always been about his ego, and his lifestyle, which is lavish, and on display. It’s easy to strive for your own interests when handed one million dollars, and all the privilege that goes with it. But it’s not as easy to be driven on behalf of other people. It’s ego gratification and power Trump’s after.

5. Communicates powerfully and prolifically to hear himself speak.

Surber writes,"He was a big dog who showed that the rest in the litter were runts.” If you want a pit bull to be president, then you’ve got the right dog. He’s the macho loudmouth, the self-satisfied womanizer. He is the classic narcissist. Strongmen, dictators, authoritarian rulers - they’ve all possessed that charisma that Surber admires. Frankly I can’t stand to hear Trump talk - all the bravado and childish attacks. Clinton is crooked Hillary. Warren is goofy Elizabeth. Lyin’ Ted, little Marco. But some people love it. And some people loved Mussolini, Hitler and Gaddafi too.

6. Builds relationships, and tears them down.

We can get personal and talk about what he did to first wife Ivana or second wife Marla. Or we can talk about his already precarious relationships with world leaders, many of whom express fear of a Trump presidency. Some U.S. allies have used adjectives like "stupid" to describe his ideas. I get hives imagining him talking to leaders in Asia or the Middle East.

7. Displays technical or professional expertise about nothing presidential.

Surber says Trump’s sons know how to operate a D-10 Caterpillar. That will certainly help them all in the Rose Garden. What knowledge or ability does Trump possess that qualifies him to be president? He knows nothing about foreign policy, balancing government budgets, education, diplomacy, or the Supreme Court. He knows how to navigate bankruptcy, and how to build a fake university that bilked people out of their hard earned savings. That’s expertise.

8. Displays a strategic perspective to keep people who are other, out.

The only consistent strategy we’ve heard from Trump is how he’s going to bar Mexicans and Muslims from the U.S.

9. Develops others into a xenophobic frenzy.

Surber’s only example here is how Trump turned his caddy into his social media director. I say he develops others into his mouthpieces — the “build that wall” chant is one of his great unifying achievements on the campaign trail.

10. Innovates exclusion.

Until Trump, Surber writes, candidates had to go out and raise millions for their campaigns. He says Trump didn’t buy the election, but earned it by rallying people around America. Yes, that most noble America — for the angry, white, Christian male.

If we get stuck with Trump, we’ll all be raising our arms — either in surrender or salute — to America’s first authoritarian president. And once he’s put his little hand on that big book and sworn allegiance to this country, we’re not going to be able to wriggle out of whatever he tries to pull over our eyes.

Written by Jennifer Sabin

Follow Jennifer Sabin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jennifersabin7

US-Based Cleric: Erdogan May Have Staged Coup

                             
Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based Muslim cleric whom Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused of plotting the attempted coup against him on Friday, says it's possible Erdogan actually plotted the coup himself as an excuse for payback against his political enemies. reporters. "It could be meant for court accusations and associations.
"It appears that they have no tolerance for any movement, any group, any organisation that is not under their total control," he said.
Erdogan told a crowd of cheering supporters demanding the death penalty for the coup-plotters that he might consider it.
Bloomberg notes that Erdogan's political career has been shaped by military coups, real or imagined, for more than four decades. Friday’s attempt is likely to prove the most consequential, and potentially empowering, of them all.
Whatever goals the rebels had, they may have ended up securing Erdogan’s position at a time of multiplying challenges to his popularity: Islamic State terror attacks, a war with militant Kurds, a failing foreign policy and weakened economic growth.
When the coup attempt was at its height on Friday night, some of Erdogan’s most ardent supporters heeded his call to take to the streets, facing down the guns and tanks of the soldiers. There was no such public show of support for the rebels, even from those in despair over Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule.
As a result, the officers will have encouraged Erdogan, 62, to intensify his drive to change Turkey’s political system from a parliamentary to a presidential democracy, accelerating the concentration of power in his vast new presidential palace.
“Erdogan will use the sympathy the coup creates for him to his advantage,” said Henri Barkey, director of Middle East studies at the Wilson Center in Washington. But he warned, too, that there were risks for Erdogan and Turkey: The coup was also a sign of deep unhappiness within the military, and if the president presses too hard with purges against his perceived enemies, it could prove a pyrrhic victory.
“He will be more paranoid so he is likely to go hard with his purges, and in the process hurt a lot of people,” said Barkey. “Nobody will come out of this well.”
Friday night’s effort to seize power, which Erdogan blamed on a former ally turned enemy, U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, wouldn’t be the first coup to create political opportunities for him.
The son of a domineering Istanbul ferry captain, Erdogan entered politics in the 1970s. At the time, the 50-year old Turkish Republic had just endured a second coup by the military and was in a state of near anarchy. Ultra-nationalists, communists and, to a lesser extent, Islamists fought in the streets, leaving an estimated 5,000 dead.
Erdogan joined the Islamists. Two of his friends were killed in the violence -- one by a bomb, another shot -- he recalled in a 2011 interview. At the same time, he had a job at Istanbul’s transport authority, but after a third military coup, in 1980, he had to resign. The new boss, an army colonel, ordered men to shave off their beards, considered signs of religiosity -- and Erdogan refused. The new regime also banned the Islamist political group to which he belonged, the National Salvation Party.

Source:Newsmax

How to control your anger

                      
Anger is a normal, healthy emotion. However, it can be a problem if you find it difficult to keep it under control.
So,how do you deal with your anger?
 Everyone has a physical reaction to anger. Be aware of what your body is telling you, and take these steps to calm yourself down:

Recognise your anger signs

Your heart beats faster and you breathe more quickly, preparing you for action. You might also notice other signs, such as tension in your shoulders or clenching your fists. "If you notice these signs, get out of the situation if you’ve got a history of losing control," says Isabel.

Count to 10

Counting to 10 gives you time to cool down, so you can think more clearly and overcome the impulse to lash out.

Breathe slowly

Breathe out for longer than you breathe in, and relax as you breathe out. "You automatically breathe in more than out when you’re feeling angry, and the trick is to breathe out more than in," says Isabel. "This will calm you down effectively and help you think more clearly."

Managing anger in the long term

Once you can recognise that you’re getting angry, and can calm yourself down, you can start looking at ways to control your anger more generally. 

Exercise can help with anger

Bring down your general stress levels with exercise and relaxation. Running, walking, swimming, yoga and meditation are just a few activities that can reduce stress. "Exercise as part of your daily life is a good way to get rid of irritation and anger," says Isabel.

Looking after yourself may keep you calm

Make time to relax regularly, and ensure that you get enough sleep. Drugs and alcohol can make anger problems worse. "They lower inhibitions and, actually, we need inhibitions to stop us acting unacceptably when we’re angry," says Isabel.

Get creative

Writing, making music, dancing or painting can release tension and reduce feelings of anger.

Talk about how you feel

Discussing your feelings with a friend can be useful and can help you get a different perspective on the situation.

Let go of angry thoughts

"Try to let go of any unhelpful ways of thinking," says Isabel. "Thoughts such as 'It’s not fair,' or 'People like that shouldn’t be on the roads,' can make anger worse."
Thinking like this will keep you focused on whatever it is that’s making you angry. Let these thoughts go and it will be easier to calm down.
Try to avoid using phrases that include:

• always (for example, "You always do that.")
• never ("You never listen to me.")
• should or shouldn't ("You should do what I want," or "You
• shouldn't be on the roads.")
• must or mustn't ("I must be on time," or "I mustn't be late.")
• ought or oughtn't ("People ought to get out of my way.")
• not fair 

Written by Angella Green

Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to stop acting like the grandfather of corruption in Nigeria, even as he asked Nigerians to demand the release of the authentic report of the Committee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement in the Nigerian Armed Forces. In a statement issued on Sunday, July 17, by Lere Olayinka, the governor’s special assistant on public communications and new media, Fayose said that although fighting corruption is a good idea, but noted that the moment documents of probe panels are being adjusted to shield those seen as the President’s men, shows that entire purpose of the corruption fight has been defeated.
Read more: https://www.naij.com/894201-controversy-stop-acting-like-grandfather-corruption-fayose-buhari.html?f&poster=13452

Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to stop acting like the grandfather of corruption in Nigeria, even as he asked Nigerians to demand the release of the authentic report of the Committee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement in the Nigerian Armed Forces. In a statement issued on Sunday, July 17, by Lere Olayinka, the governor’s special assistant on public communications and new media, Fayose said that although fighting corruption is a good idea, but noted that the moment documents of probe panels are being adjusted to shield those seen as the President’s men, shows that entire purpose of the corruption fight has been defeated.
Read more: https://www.naij.com/894201-controversy-stop-acting-like-grandfather-corruption-fayose-buhari.html?f&poster=13452

How Unforgiveness Can Shackle You and Kill Your Dreams

                                            
This is a tale of two ex-wives. Both are Christians. If you had to be one, which would you rather be?
Bee's husband of two years left her for another woman. When she asked why, he told her he had never loved her and that his new girlfriend was the love of his life. Bee was boiling mad when within a week she got an invitation to the wedding. She went anyway, but with her own agenda.
At the reception, Bee brought the bride a drink and asked if she could propose a toast. "All the best to you for as long as you live." By the end of the night, the bride had collapsed. Within an hour she was dead of a type of tasteless poison Bee had poured in her drink.
Prison of Her Own Choice
Bee knew she would spend the rest of her life in prison, but she didn't care. She had her revenge. She wanted her ex-husband to be miserable knowing the "love of his life" had died at her hand. But she could never get the actions of her husband or of herself out of her mind. It kept her in constant turmoil.
On the converse, another woman, we'll call Guivre, faced a similar situation after 10 years of marriage and three children. However, her husband got the other woman pregnant. Guivre and her husband divorced. However, Guivre forgave her ex and made an effort to have a civil relationship for the sake of their children, and their eventual grandchildren. She lived her life in peace.
Guivre understood the Biblical principal of forgiveness and it's long-term implications: "But if you do not forgive men for their sins, neither will your Father forgive your sins."¹
Everyone Needs Forgiveness
You might say, what had Guivre done to be forgiven for? Every person has done something wrong at some point in time.² As humans we are prone to categorize sins, such believing that a little untruth is not as great a sin as murder. However, God says if we are guilty of disobeying one aspect of God's law, we are as guilty as someone who disobeys all aspects.³
This is the reason God tells us to forgive. He says if we won't forgive others, He won't forgive us.¹ I don't know about you, but I must forgive because I need God's forgiveness. There are areas of my life where for years I flagrantly sinned by disobeying things I knew God had told me to do. My area of sin had to do with overeating. Yours may be something else. Guivre's may have been something else. However, we all have things we've done against God. It's the reason we need the Savior.⁴
Once we come to Him and He forgives us, He tells us to go and do the same with others. If we don't, we will be just like Bee, held in a prison we created ourselves until we forgive.⁵
We always tend to keep something back we think we can't let go of, such as the pain we feel because of hurts we have endured in our lives. We must surrender everything we are holding back, especially if we think the other person doesn't deserve your mercy.
Well, neither did we—deserve it, that is. Wrongs are wrong. We may have not done anything wrong in that situation, but we have done something wrong, no matter how small.
Unforgiveness Stops Destiny
The person you won't forgive because they don't deserve it is holding you back from your destiny. And it's not their fault. It's your fault for not letting go of the hurt. By holding on to the pain, you are paralyzed in your tracks. You will never go forward, you will never get victory until you forgive what the person did.

---

It was wrong. Yes. This is even more reason to forgive them and move on. Don't let them define who you are. They are not worth it. By not forgiving them, you are allowing the rest of your life to be defined by them. Every day you are allowing the hurt they caused you to grow bigger and bigger until it overwhelms and suffocates you, keeping you from your God-ordained destiny.
First Step Toward Change
The reality is, forgiving someone is hard. That's why God is there to help us through it. If Jesus can forgive His crucifiers for killing Him,⁶ surely you can forgive one person in order to step into God's change process for your life.
Forgiveness is the first step toward transformation. Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. I first heard this from Joyce Meyer, though the same thing, substituting "anger" for "unforgiveness," is attributed to Buddha. Both are true because most of the time it is out of anger that we will not forgive.
Forgiveness Sets You Free
Here's the bottom line: Forgiveness sets you free from the prison of uselessness you put yourself in. You want destiny? Forgive. You want purpose? Forgive. You want peace? Forgive.
Here's one simple method I've used to forgive. Hold out your hands to God. Symbolically put the person you need to forgive in your hands. Say, "Father God I forgive this person and I hand him or her to you. They are no longer my concern. Father God, what do you give me in exchange?"
Whatever you sense, feel or hear Him say He gives you, write it down. It will be something helpful on your journey. Many times He gives me peace. Sometimes He simply tells me I am His beloved daughter. At times, He has pulled back the veil in order to give me a short glimpse into my future as long as I am walking in total submission to Him.
And that complete surrender thing? That, my friend, is what it's all about. It's also the hardest part.
Update
I almost forgot. Here's an update on our friends. Bee is still in prison and still miserable. Her ex-husband had been married for 20 years, has four children and a thriving business.
Guivre has a great career she loves, travels with friends and enjoys having her children and grandchildren visit often. She never married again. Her ex-husband never married again either. He stayed in all of his children and grandchildren's lives.

Written by Theresa Shields Parker

How to Deal with Sexual Fantasies

                         
The sexual fantasies that pop into your mind can trouble you, but you can’t avoid having those fantasies. Sexual fantasies are natural for everyone, since God has created all humans as sexual beings. What you can do is deal wisely with the fantasies you experience, learning from them so you can heal from the emotional pain they reveal and enjoy healthy expressions of your God-given sexuality. Here’s how:

Ask God to give you His perspective on your sexuality. Since God is the one who created you to be a sexual being, trust God to show you what your sexual fantasies mean and how you can use that information to use your sexuality in healthy ways that will bless you rather than harm you.

Recognize that sexual fantasies are normal and not always wrong. Sexual fantasies are a normal part of life, and they’re not necessarily bad. Fantasies are simply windows into your psyche, giving you valuable psychological information and about your thoughts and feelings. You can use your sexual fantasies for either bad or good purposes; sometimes they lead to sin and destruction, but if you use them to create sexual energy in your marriage, they can lead to a stronger marriage. So pray for the wisdom to know when you should guard your mind against unhealthy fantasies and when you should open your mind to fantasies that can enrich your marriage.

Understand the three different types of sexual fantasies. Autoerotic fantasies are random sexual thoughts that occur naturally without external stimulation. You shouldn’t feel guilty about them, and you can easily manage them. Erotic fantasies those that arouse you and your spouse within your marriage. As long as you both approve of them, there’s no need to feel guilty about them. Illicit fantasies are those that God or your spouse would not approve of because of the context of the relationships reflected within those fantasies. The illicit fantasies are signals meant to draw your attention to emotional wounds you’ve suffered, so you should pay attention to what they can teach you about yourself and pursue healing for the wounds they reveal to you.

Examine what your fantasies may mean. Reflect on the sexual fantasies that pass through your mind and ask yourself key questions about them, such as: “Who are the faces in our fantasies?”, “What roles do they play?”, “What role do I play?”, “What primary emotions do these fantasies elicit and why?”, What event in my history created the need to experience such an emotion?”, “How does this fantasy medicate emotional pain from my past or present?”, “Could there be an even deeper spiritual longing beneath my sexual longings?”, “What can I learn from my fantasies?”, “What driving forces are operating within me that often lead me to toward destructive relational patterns?”, and “How can I heal the pain that is causing me to fantasize destructive directions?”.

Know that your illicit fantasies never stand in the way of God’s love for you. Don’t worry that your struggle with unhealthy sexual fantasies will ever cause God to love you any less. God loves you deeply and unconditionally. Because of God’s love for you, you can count on the grace you need from Him to empower you to heal from the wounds that your illicit fantasies reveal.

Break free of pornography. Realize that pornography is always unhealthy for you to use, because your fellow human beings are abused in order to produce porn, and because porn damages your ability to experience genuine sexual intimacy within marriage. If you use porn to fuel your fantasies, ask yourself what types of images you’re more attracted to, and what underlying emotions you’re trying to quell, amplify, or balance with fantasies about those images. Then consider what messages those emotions are trying to send you, and ask God to show you how you can best pursue the emotional healing you need.
Look to God (instead of other people) to meet your needs. God is the only one who can ultimately fulfill all of your needs, such as those that you may fantasize about another person meeting (satisfaction, provision, and comfort). So don’t barter with your body to try to get other people to meet your needs (such as by fantasizing about people as mother figures, father figures, or spiritual idols, or keys to unlocking the fountain of youth for you). Recognize that what you may have been desperately searching for in others, you already possess in God, through your relationship with Him – and all you need to do is turn to God to claim what you’ve been searching for. Once you’ve learned how to trust God to meet your deepest emotional needs, you can learn how to express affection toward other people in healthy and holy ways.

If you’re married, invest your best efforts into your marriage. God has designed marriage to be the only context in which sexual energies can be expressed in healthy ways, and when you focus your sexual energies on your spouse, your marriage can grow stronger. So if you’re married, do your best to develop healthy intimacy with your spouse. God can show you how to use your fantasies to energize your marital sex life, drawing you and your spouse closer to Him and each other.

If you’re single, direct your sexual energies toward other pursuits. If you’re single, there’s no healthy way for you to express your sexual energies through sex until you get married. So while you’re single, direct those energies into healthy pursuits, such as exercise and creative work.

Expose the roots of fantasies about taboos. If you fantasize about gay or lesbian sex, rape, incest, recognize that such things go against the natural order of how God has made creation and will harm you and others if acted out. If you fantasize about bondage, sadism, or masochism, understand that it’s never God’s plan for sexual pleasure to involve anything that causes others pain.

Put fantasy in its place. Defuse the unhealthy power that fantasies have over you by: focusing on other things you’re passionate about, trusting your God-given instincts more than you do other people, refusing to rationalize stupidity, trusting in God’s grace to avoid sin, strengthening your marriage so you won’t be as tempted to have an affair, and trusting God to lead you and your spouse into deeper levels of sexual and spiritual connection.

Written by Whitney Hopler